from angela merkel, chancellor of germany, pope benedict is german born. she said she has the greatest possible respect for this pope for stepping down at the time that he is. now, we hear that this was a personal decision and that he was not pressured and that he does plan to honor his engagements through february 28th. the date that he set to step down. and that a new pope will likely be in place before the holy week which start march 24th. but that this pope wanted to step down to avoid the rush of easter commitment that will happen within the next month or so. jon? >> thank you very much. of course we'll continue to follow all of that news coming out of the vatican and we'll bring you the latest throughout the entire morning. >>> switching gears. this week bay area sports fans leaving the end zone heading to the baseball diamond. >> a chance that some giants pitchers and catchers might get ready for that cactus lead today and getting there throughout the week. loren scott is covering spring training for us joining us live in scottsdale, arizona, with t